December garden pasta

By Penny Stine

Faithful blog readers may remember the giant Hubbard squash my mom gave me back in October. It was so huge I split it with a wedge and a mall, as if I were a logger from Coos Bay, Oregon...
Then I cooked it (one half of the squash completely filled my oven, but fortunately, I have two ovens!) I froze it in plastic bags, ice cube trays and random plastic containers that used to hold sour cream, feta cheese or cream cheese. I wondered what I was going to do with all that frozen, cooked Hubbard squash.The other day, my husband said he wanted four cheese mac and cheese, with Italian sausage. I never met a meal I couldn't add veggies to, so I decided to add some cubes of squash to the sauce. Then I decided to pick the last of the kale that was still standing in my garden, as well as some sage and throw that in, too.
I tossed in a handful of dehydrated tomatoes just 'cuz they're pretty.

The pasta was delish. I'm sure it was healthy, too, in spite of the Italian sausage and the entire bag of four cheese Italian blend (really, it was a small bag!) in it. I used whole grain elbow macaroni, but also used real cream in the sauce as well as the squash.
The cooked squash is great for thickening, adding a rich color and taste, although I'm sure the cream contributed to the richness, too.

I saved some of the Hubbard squash seeds back when I cooked it in October.